Recommendations re: Home Weather Stations.

[cisa]

Guys, I have a question. I am researching Home Weather Stations. I had a bottom of the line one many years ago that never worked. I've wanted one for a long time, but don't want to waste my money on buying the wrong one. You guys are all very knowledgable and so I thought, "who better to ask than those who understand the joys of weather geekdom." I'm by no means any kind of expert, but I want something that will give me accurate rain totals, wind speeds, etc. Noone else in my house is particularly interested in this but me, So I'll need something that a 50 something Mom can handle pretty easily. Weather has always been a passion of mine and would appreciate any suggestions? I have a 7 month old grandaughter that I would love to be able to pass this passion down to her as my dad did to me. I'm curious about good brands and stations you may have had success with. Thanks in advance for the input. I really appreciate you all and look forward to hearing your advice.

[MontgomeryCoWx]

I have the basic $40 Acurite model.

Your better more robust stations are going to run $100-$200

[Andrew]

We have done some testing and research up here at a&m about which "cheaper" weather station is the most accurate and unfortunately a lot of the sub $800 weather stations give some bad results. What price range are you looking at? Also make sure before you setup your station, if you want truly accurate results you need to make sure you have the proper space. Here is a basic guide on what type of spacing you need:

http://www.ambientweather.com/eaofin.html

[cisa]

My self imposed budget would probably in the $150-175 ish range. I mainly want to be able to have an acurate rain gauge, be able to record wind speed with at least some accuracy, etc. I was given a bottom of the line one as a gift a few years back that wasn't much more than a glorified thermometer. It was fun, but never really worked right. I appreciate y'all's input because I was looking online last night and didn't know if one brand was more accurate, and what features were most important and which ones might just be hype. Thanks for the help.

[Andrew]

Well for your price range Oregon scientific might be your best bet. This one isn't so expensive and has some pretty good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Oregon-Scientific ... er+station

[cisa]

Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate the input. It helped a lot

[wolfie]

Thank you all for your recommendations. I was wondering the same thing, so thank you Cisa for asking.

[cisa]

Sure thing.